Letters to the editor: Detroit should sell off assets

Monday, March 4, 2013

Detroit should sell off assetsAny person or business in financial trouble would look at their assets and see which of them they would sell to gain the cash necessary to clean up their debts. It’s like a man sitting on the porch of his home that is in foreclosure with no heat or lights or running water, but he has a Cadillac sitting in the driveway. The answer is simple: Sell the Cadillac, pay your bills and then if you have any money left, buy a good used car.

The same goes for Detroit: Sell the Detroit Institute of Arts and all its art work for a hefty sum. Next, lease Belle Isle to some private concern for a hefty sum.

If that doesn’t clear the books, look for a buyer for the Detroit Zoo, then the Detroit Water and Sewage Department.

There isn’t much else of value left in the motor city. One thing is for sure: Don’t look for the rest of the state to bail you out.

JEROME CIESISKIWarrenUnion dues shouldn’t fund politicians

All post offices were closed on Presidents Day, Feb. 18. Mail was delivered the next day. Did you miss any bills? We should make every day Presidents’ Day.

The postal union urges the continuation of the six-day mail delivery. The union uses its dues for a political agenda, while the U.S. Postal Service is going broke. When that first class letter starts costing us $2, then maybe we will wake up.

We shouldn’t ask Congress to bail out the postal service at taxpayers’ expense. Also, postal union leadership should get out of politics. Politicians use union dues to help fund campaigns, but the postal service is losing too much money. Something has got to give or the mail carriers will lose their jobs soon.